The M26Taser is demonstrated at the Santa Ana Police Dept. Wires are connected to darts that are in the target. File Photo,

Orange County sheriff's deputies are no longer allowed to use a Taser on most handcuffed or restrained suspects under a new policy adopted after criticism over the department's use of stun guns in the jails.

The Orange County grand jury in June asked the department to review its policy allowing deputies to use Tasers on suspects who were handcuffed or otherwise restrained.

In a response made public Monday, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said the policy has been revised, and now bans deputies from using stun guns on restrained suspects, unless they display "overtly assaultive behavior" that cannot be otherwise controlled.

The new policy also requires that deputies consider all other means of restraint before using a stun gun.

The changes follow stories in the Orange County Register and other local media detailing the deaths of two jail inmates shortly after they were shocked with stun guns. In October 2007, inmate Michael Lass scuffled with deputies who alleged that he refused to return to his jail cell. Lass lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at a hospital. He was in custody on a charge of drinking in public.

On Tuesday, the District Attorney's Office cleared deputies of any criminal wrongdoing in Lass' death, following a 10-month investigation.

In March, Jason Jesus Gomez, 35, of Anaheim fell into a coma and died after scuffling with jail deputies. Sheriff's officials said Gomez attacked a nurse who was giving him medication through an opening in the cell door. Gomez allegedly bit and spit on deputies before he was restrained with a Taser, according to sheriff's officials. Gomez stopped breathing and was taken by ambulance to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he was later removed from life support by his family.

A private autopsy later concluded that he died of blunt force trauma to the head, according to relatives. He had turned himself over to the jail to serve a 90-day sentence for violating his probation on a marijuana charge.

Concerns over the Taser policy escalated after The Register obtained surveillance videos showing jail deputies using a stun gun on a man strapped to a chair and on a female inmate being held down on the floor. Both inmates appeared subdued and in pain. More criticism came when rookie deputies at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange were accused in unsubstantiated reports of shooting Taser darts at a cat.

The grand jury report noted that Tasers had been used on 437 inmates in the Orange County Jail System between 2004 and 2007.

"There is major debate amongst experts as to whether the use of the Taser causes heart failure or death," the grand jury wrote, advising the sheriff's department to organize a panel to research whether stun guns are safe enough for routine use.

Hutchens responded that the National Institute of Justice concluded in a June study that there is no evidence that Tasers carry a high-risk of death or injury. The NIJ report concluded that Tasers, if used according to accepted guidelines, are safe in the vast-majority of police cases.

The grand jury's Taser recommendations were included in a larger report on the state of Orange County jails. The report generally repeated earlier criticism connected to the October 2006 killing of John Derek Chamberlain by other inmates at Theo Lacy jail. An outside investigation showed that deputies sent text messages to their girl friends and watched television in the nearby guard shack while Chamberlain was beat to death by inmates who thought he was a child molester. Chamberlain was awaiting trial on child pornography charges.

The grand jury found that deputies often slept, played video games and recruited jailhouse bullies to enforce the rules among inmates at Theo Lacy.

In her response to the grand jury, Hutchens agreed that the jail had problems and pointed to efforts to correct them, such as installing security cameras in the housing barracks and banning guards from bringing personal electronic devices to work.

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